Kane Brett Robinson (born 21 May 1985), better known as Kano, is a British rapper, songwriter and actor from East Ham, London.
Kane Robinson, born in the London Borough of Newham, was raised by Jamaican parents, first living on Manor Road and later in East Ham.
In his younger years he was a semi-professional footballer, representing Chelsea, West Ham United, Norwich City and Celtic by the age of thirteen,[2][1] eventually abandoning his sporting ambitions in favour of a musical career.
Robinson dabbled in composing using Cubase and a keyboard in his youth, and started MCing aged fourteen after his older brother, an aspiring DJ, got a pair of turntables for his sixteenth birthday; the pair would record sets together on cassette tape and share them with friends, which earned them a residency on Canning Town pirate radio station Flava FM.
[3] Robinson used the crew's underground popularity as a springboard, and appeared as a cover star in RWD Magazine alongside colleagues D Double E and Hitman Hyper.
In December 2005, Robinson released a remixed version of album track "Nobody Don't Dance No More" featuring Katie Pearl, as a download-only single.
On 13 March 2006, Robinson released the fifth and final single from the album, a double A-side of "Brown Eyes" and "Signs in Life".
[10] Amidst the Home Sweet Home album campaign, Robinson parted ways with Nasty Crew in 2005, a decision which co-founder Marcus Nasty has stated on the record was due to their relationship becoming fraught after Kano became represented by a manager and had to navigate the competing interests of his team and the crew.
Prior to the album's release, Robinson put out a mixtape (simply called Mixtape on the front cover), which included new material and his own versions of hip-hop songs, including Jay-Z's "Public Service Announcement", Nas's "Black Republican" and Kanye West's "My Way Home".
Along with David, the album featured collaborations with Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn, Kate Nash, and Vybz Kartel.
Robinson toured the UK in support of the record, as well as performing the whole album at the Jazz Cafe in October 2007 alongside a live band.
[12] Kano also sold out London Astoria in the same month to put on an entertaining show also promoting Tinchy Stryder on his tour.
[13] In 2008, Robinson was no longer signed to 679 Recordings as he wished to return to his "grimier roots" and had posted all new freestyles on his MySpace page.
[1] The majority of the album was produced by Mikey J, with Wiley and DaVinChe supplying two beats each, and Skepta handling the production for the song "These MC's".
The TV ad shows Robinson walking through a crowd of students whose Diploma qualifications pop up in bubbles above them.
He collaborated with fellow British rapper Bashy and the National Orchestra for Arabic Music on the track "White Flag".
[26] In 2017, it was announced that streaming platform Netflix would be reviving Top Boy, with Robinson reprising his role as Sully.
The revival was, in part, due to the interest of Canadian rapper Drake, who was a fan of the original series and whose team co-produced the new episodes.
Robinson plays the lead role in The Kitchen, a dystopian action drama for Netflix directed by Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya, which premiered at the 67th London Film Festival on 15 October 2023.
[29] In November 2019, along with 34 other musicians, Robinson signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 UK general election with a call to end austerity.
[30][31] In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, he signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election.
The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few.